Chapter 2.43 Something Special (Reprise)

Alyssa hated seeing Belle this way.

She didn't leave her room all too much, which was worrying. She didn't leave the house all too much either, which Alyssa didn't like. Things were changing for Belle; Alyssa knew that but it was as if her daughter wasn't herself anymore. There were quite a few things from downstairs in her room, mostly all the books from the bookcases and Alyssa's mom's old guitar.
"You know, you are allowed downstairs. You don't have to resort to hoarding all the things you like up here. No one's going to take them." She made a light joke out of it but she was worried about Belle.

"I know, I just prefer it up here." She mumbled, looking up at the ceiling. "And nothing up here is hoarded. I'm merely just keeping them up here so I don't have to go downstairs and put them back and then go back down to get them again, It's futile putting them back, so I just keep them in here."

Sighing, Alyssa responded. "That's pretty much hoarding them Belle." Shaking her head, she continued with. "I'm going out to see your aunts today, I think your cousins might be there, I'm not sure. Either way, it would be nice if you wanted to tag along." She smiled, hoping Belle would take the offer.

"I'm alright. I kinda just want to stay here." She shrugged slightly. "But could you get me a brownie or a muffin or something? Please?" She grinned.

"I'll get you both." She smiled slightly, then asked. "Are you sure you don't want to come along too? Your aunt Sabrina spoke to your uncle Connor about you joining the police force, she could always help you and tell you what you need to know to pass the tests." She offered. She knew Belle wanted to be a detective when she was an adult.

"I kinda just want a little time alone, Mom." Belle frowned, sitting up and looking at Alyssa. "Besides, I'd feel like a little of an anomaly. The three of you are all adults and I'm still a teenager, and most teenagers are at school." She sighed.

Alyssa hesitated before nodding. "Alright. I'll bring you home a brownie or a muffin. Maybe both." She half smiled, taking a moment before leaving.

"And that's basically what happened." Alyssa frowned, looking straight ahead while she spoke. "She's starting to worry me. I know she knows people might be rather judgmental about her condition, but she's not even leaving her room. It's not like I'm keeping her in or anything, she just keeps turning down any offer I have to get her out of the house."

Rosie frowned. "It might just be because she broke up with her boyfriend. Elvie was telling me that Belle and her boyfriend were 'literally the cutest couple since like, forever'." She shook her head slightly, quoting what her daughter said. "Apparently, he also gave her a promise ring similar to my engagement ring," She mentioned.

"Still only an engagement ring though?" Sabrina raised an eyebrow at Rosie.

"Still only an engagement ring. I don't want to get married. I've spent most of my life engaged anyway. I wouldn't really want a wedding or anything."

"That was the same with me and Connor. We got married pretty much as soon as we were adults. We just signed the papers at city hall, nothing big. We felt kinda pressed for time." There was a small blush on her cheeks as she mentioned it. Rosie noticed that.

"You were pregnant with your eldest soon after you became an adult... It was a shotgun marriage, wasn't it?" Rosie asked, teasing lightly. 

"Well, at least we got married so our children weren't out of wedlock." She grumbled, inspecting her nails.

"Well, out of the three of us, you're the odd one out." She smiled slightly, and frowned as she looked at Alyssa. "Something wrong Lyss? You're pursing your lips."

"Why don't you want to get married?" Alyssa asked, frowning."Isn't that the main reason you get engaged? To get married?"

Sighing, Rosie just shrugged simply. "Because I'm closer to being an elder than an adult, and it just doesn't interest me anymore."

"Anymore? So you were interested at one point?" Raising an eyebrow, Alyssa pressed further/

"Sure, when me and Liam first moved in together, we were thinking about getting married and almost got as far as starting to plan for it and finding a dress and all that, but soon enough Elvie came along so..." Shrugging, Rosie tilted her head slightly. "We just decided to put it off and we've kind of just forgot about it now."

Out of interest, Sabrina asked. "Did you ever find a dress?"

Rosie hesitated before nodding. "Yeah, I did. It was gorgeous, but expensive, it was a designer dress. It was fitted and silky but it had lace on it still... It was either a wedding or having a family and I chose having a family." She shrugged slightly.

Grinning, Alyssa had an idea. "So, you're saying it's a rather old designer dress? One that could probably be found in a certain bridal boutique that sells vintage designer dresses for a cheap price?" 

Rosie narrowed her eyes at her younger sister. "And just what are you planning?"

Still grinning, Alyssa just simply shrugged. "You'll see."

"I still don't get why we're doing this." Quietly, Rosie grumbled as they entered the store. "Why can't Sabrina do it instead?"

"Don't go throwing me under the bus. I'm already married so me trying them on would be pointless." Sabrina explained, currently finding this amusing.

"Exactly, and besides, I think I have it worse off." Showing off her left hand, Alyssa raised an eyebrow at Rosie. She forgot what it felt like to have a ring on, and that ring was very heavy. Pretty and expensive, but heavy. "Now smile and follow my lead."

"Hello, can I help you ladies today?" The shop assistant smiled.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you. I called you about ten minutes ago about a last minute appointment." She smiled in return. "My boyfriend, well, fiance now, recently proposed and I want to try on dresses." She grinned, showing off the ring
Pulling a face, the shop assistant replied. "You know, we only allow one guest, right? It's how we can see to so many people at one time."
"Oh, I know. See, both me and my sister here want to try on dresses today." Alyssa gestured to Rosie, who gave a rather awkward half smile. "She got engaged a while ago, she just forgot about the wedding part of the engagement,"
"Whoops." Rosie added, grinning.
"And we've brought along our sister-in-law as a guest." Alyssa explained, smiling still.

The shop assistant narrowed her eyes, finding the story a little peculiar, but she nodded anyway. "Right, well, you have time to look around the floor for up to thirty minutes, and then when you've found a few dresses, go into room two and try them on." She smiled. "If you need me at any point, I'll be here."

"So, that's the dress?" Sabrina asked, smiling. "I think it really suits you. Would you ever consider having a big wedding?" 

Hesitating prior, Rosie shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm close to being an elder and my eldest daughter is an adult." She sighed. 

"You were an adult when mom and dad got married." Alyssa pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "Connor was too."

Rosie shook her head once again. "Still, I don't think a wedding's really for me. It more seems like something you would want. Big fancy wedding in some fancy and old church."

Alyssa sighed, and lowered her voice to a whisper. "But I'm not engaged, remember? This is my old ring," And she took it off. She didn't like wearing it, but she knew this place was iffy about how many people to a room. She figured it would be easier to just slip on her old ring for a little while.

"I'm surprised he let you keep the ring." Sabrina mumbled, quietly. "Can I have a look at it?" She asked, and Alyssa handed over her old ring.

"White gold band with a princess cut pink diamond. It's incredibly expensive. Probably more than a lot of the dresses in here. Part of me considered selling it or melting it down into earrings or something, but I never really got around to it." Alyssa explained while Sabrina looked at the ring. She handed her the ring back.

"You know, it doesn't hurt to imagine." Rosie grinned, and then went into the dressing room to put on her normal clothes again.

"She's got a point. And are you going to try on the dress you picked out?" Sabrina grinned.

Alyssa shook her hair. "The last time I tried on a wedding dress, I freaked out and choked. Literally." She sighed and stopped herself from saying that was when she then found condolence in another man's arms. "It might have just been cold feet or it might have been the sales assistant talking about being independent and how as long as I loved him it would be fine and I started to doubt if I actually did love him..." Trailing off, she sighed. 

"Yeah, but it's different this time. This time, you're not engaged and it's just for fun." Sabrina grinned. "Besides, the sales woman might get a little bit suspicious."

"So, are you going to try it on? I never got to see the other dress you liked when you were engaged before, I think you owe me a wedding dress trying on session." Rosie grinned.

Sighing, Alyssa stood up. "Fine. I'll try it on, but only because I'm bad when it comes to peer pressure."

In the dressing room, Alyssa couldn't help but look over the dress she picked out. She picked it out on a whim, finding the first dress her size and picking it up. It looked somewhat similar to her other one, the same kind of shape, however it didn't have any of the lace or a high neck like the first one did. 

It would be a lie if she said she didn't feel at least a little nervous trying it on, but she knew that it was only for fun, and that it was probably Rosie's way of getting back at her for dragging both her and Sabrina here.

She got worried however when she left the changing room and both Rosie and Sabrina were just staring at her with wide eyes. and Rosie was grinning more than what she had seen all day. She started to get worried, wondering if she had gotten makeup on it or something. "Is it alright? I didn't stain it or anything, did I?" She looked down at the dress, and took a few steps to look in the mirror.

Rosie stopped her, grinning mischievously. "Not so fast. Now close your eyes." She instructed.

Alyssa furrowed her eyebrows, "Why?" She asked.

"Just do it, or I'll cast a spell to temporarily blind you." She threatened lightly, and grinned when Alyssa closed her eyes. She then mumbled something to Sabrina which Alyssa couldn't hear, and then there was the sound of the door opening and closing.

Rosie slowly guided her over to the mirror, keeping her hand over Alyssa's eyes, just in case. "No peeking, okay?"

"Seriously, what are you doing? I'm not even going to be keeping this dress." Alyssa sighed, and if her eyes were open, she would have rolled them at her sister.

She felt Sabrina place two things on top of her head, and she could tell that Rosie was grinning as she said. "Wait and see..." and she felt what was put on her head get moved around slightly. "You can open your eyes now," As soon as Rosie said that, Alyssa opened her eyes. She didn't see what the big deal was, until she saw herself in the mirror.

The dress looked really pretty, much prettier than the one over in Bridgeport. She turned a little, trying to see what the dress looked like from all angles.

"You look like a princess." Sabrina grinned at Alyssa through the mirror.

"You really do." Rosie was smiling too.

"But I'm not engaged. I can't go buying a wedding dress when there's no wedding." She sighed. "But I don't know how much longer this dress is going to be here for... Most dresses here are gone within the week." She mumbled, frowning. She really did like this dress, but she wasn't engaged, but the dress. Oh, the dress! It was perfect and it would probably be gone by the time she got engaged. But she couldn't buy a wedding dress when she wasn't engaged.
But then she thought, couldn't or shouldn't?

Belle had gotten used to her afternoon naps. She had herself a routine of doing bits and pieces of remaining school work from home in the morning and read a little, and at about one she would nap for an hour or two. She wasn't all too happy when her mom woke her up however.

"I did a bad thing." Alyssa confessed, walking straight into Belle's room. Right now, the rest of the kids were at school and Tyler was busy, so she felt safe to talk to Belle.

"What did you do?" After rubbing her eyes, Belle looked up at her mom. 

She tried to say it, but just sighed. "I bought something I shouldn't have." She frowned, and went into her room with Belle following her.

Belle pursed her lips, confused. "You bought a wedding dress." and she looked up at her mom. "I thought you were going out for coffee," She couldn't help but laugh a little. 

"I still got you a brownie, don't worry, it's downstairs. I would get it after we spoke if I were you, otherwise one of your brothers or sisters might take it when they get home." She mumbled, closing her wardrobe and avoiding the topic of the dress.

"Why did you buy a wedding dress?" Belle asked, looking up at her mom. Her eyes then widened. "Are you and Tyler getting married? When did he propose? Wait, why aren't you wearing your ring?" She frowned. 

Alyssa sighed, and shook her head. "We're not getting married, and it's a long story. You know how your Aunt Rosie has been engaged for a long time, well I convinced her to rethink maybe getting married and we went to a discount bridal store where they hold a lot of kinda old designer wedding dresses, I pretended like I was engaged so the three of us, me, Rosie and Sabrina, could go inside the same room, and I picked out a dress and it was perfect and I bought it and it's here." She explained frowning, 

"Do you want to get married?" Belle asked, curious. She knew her mom was going to marry Damon, before it all went south between the two of them. 

"Someday, I hope so." She sighed. "Well, I'm not sure, but if I do, at least I'll have a dress sorted out."

Belle nodded, "It did look really pretty." Belle took a step back, getting an idea. "I'm going to go downstairs and get the brownie you got for me, before they get home and someone takes it." She smiled, and went downstairs.

Unknown to Alyssa, Belle didn't only go downstairs to get the brownie, she had something else she felt like she needed to sort out. 

She knocked on the study door before walking in. She knew he didn't really appreciate being disturbed while he was working. She could understand why, but she felt as if she needed to talk to him without her mom knowing. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about something." She smiled slightly, and glanced at what he was writing on the board. She had no clue what it was, way too complicated for her.

"Sure." He smiled at her, placing the pen down and walking away from the whiteboard. "What is it that you want to talk about?" He asked. he figured he could probably do with a break.

"I was wondering about when you're going to propose to mom." She said outright, and noticed that she caught him off guard.

"Propose? You mean marrying her?" He asked, and she nodded in return. He sighed slightly. "I wasn't so sure if she wanted to get married, I knew things ended roughly between her and her ex-fiance and that kind of turned her off the idea of getting married."

"Yeah, but you and mom together are different. I don't think mom ever liked Damon all too much." She mumbled. She could remember a little about him, but mostly only her mom and him arguing over anything and everything. "And I doubt you and her are ever going to break up, so..." She shrugged.

He nodded, and hesitated slightly before asking. "Has she mentioned anything about getting married to you?" He wondered where she got this idea from, and figured that Alyssa might have mentioned something or done something. 

Shaking her head and telling a little white lie, she said. "Not a lot, I was just curious myself." She smiled innocently. "I think she'd want to get married."

"I was thinking about asking her a while ago after Juniper was born, but it didn't seem like the right time, and then the havoc with the fairy happened." He sighed. "It's just never been the right time."
"But now could be." She countered, smiling. "And if for some reason, you're apprehensive about how me, Mel, Ash or Nate might react, well, Nate doesn't really know anyone else, I doubt Mel or Ash really remember their dad and I'm the one suggesting it to you." She smiled.
He looked Belle up and down, partly wondering where she got the idea from. "I'll think about it." He half smiled.
She smiled. "Good, and I'll let you get back to your... Whatever it is on the whiteboard." She gave it another look, having no clue what on earth any of it meant.

Belle left the study, and went over to where her mom had left the brownie she had bought for her from the coffee shop, and she couldn't help but grin to herself.

Since when did it become so easy to meddle?

Chapter 2.42 Big Girls Don't Cry

Chapter 2.44

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AN: As you can probably tell, I made my mind up on which dress I liked on Alyssa the most. It's this dress by BEO Creations. I know it's a little odd her getting the dress first, but my Lyss has never really done things the normal way, has she?

I liked cluttering Belle's room with books, I doubt anyone remembers, but when she was little she had quite a book cluttered room too, à la this picture, I guess some people just never change.

I couldn't come up with a name for this chapter, so I figured to call it what it is because of my chapter forever ago called "Something Special" (the one where Alyssa freaked out in a bridal store) and it's kinda been reprise-d so, yeah. It was about wedding dresses again.

Rosie's aging is all messed up. She's been stuck in YA stage, technically now Alyssa is older than her (despite Rosie being a teenager when Alyssa was born). I know where she should be in her age, so when she should be an elder (soon) I'll put her up into that age stage.

So, rather off topic, I went to a big girl party (like, clubbing party but minus alcohol and drugs and stuff (at least that was intention)) and it kinda opened my eyes over how many people smoke and take drugs and drink vodka. Obviously, I knew some people but this guy I knew when I was 10 who used to love Glee apparently smokes (both cigarettes and weed) and I honestly don't like it.
I guess the world works weirdly sometimes... 
Guilty confession: I kinda wanted to try a cigarette and I knew that if I spoke to the right person enough I could but hooray for anxiety as I was too anxious to ask anyone that.
No need to go all mom-ish on me, I won't ever do it, I just got a little tempted but I know it's not a good thing to do, it's disgusting and does disgusting and icky-making-Carrie-throw-up-in-the-toilets-while-others-are-doing-science things to your body.